Defensins in the honeybee antiinfectious protection

Abstract

Specific conditions of the honeybee life honeybee life require the presence of effective mechanisms of antiinfectious protection whose one of the most important components are defensins—the family of antimicrobial peptides. In the honeybee, defensins are present in the form of two different peptides—defensin 1 and 2 that are similar between each other only by 55.8%. Defensin 1 synthesized in salivary glands plays an important role in social immunity, whereas defensin 2 synthesized by cells of fat body and lymph is an important factor in the system of the honeybee individual immunity. Defensins are inducible, are controlled by interaction of Toll and Imd signal pathways and have a large specter of antimicrobial action.